6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Epic Heroic Fantasy, December 5, 2008
I've never had an ear for poetry. I struggled with it in school, and still have no way of knowing good poetry from bad. Unfortunately, this failing has kept me from reading what, by all accounts, is one of the great heroic epics of all time - Beowulf. That's why I jumped at the chance to try out R. Scot Johns' novelization of Beowulf, appropriately titled The Saga of Beowulf.
Almost immediately into this hefty tome (nearly 600 pages of small text) I started to hear a wizened bard acting as my internal narrator, regaling me with tales of the (literally) larger than life warrior, his seemingly impossible quest, and the love he left behind. Soon enough I came to care about his companions as well, and the events that propelled and shaped them. Johns's storytelling is poetic in its own way, and his focus on the cares and motivations of kings and peasants alike brought to mind my all-time favorite heroic fantasy author, the late David Gemmell.
From Beowulf's initial quest against the demon Grendel and the Troll-Hag that sired him, to his battles against the Swedes, to the ill-fated raids in what would become France, to the battle that cost him his life, The Saga of Beowulf unfolds like an epic Hollywood movie. I could almost see these towering Norsemen battling for land and king amidst blood and flame.
Having never read the source material, I can't attest to how faithfully it was adapted, but given the scope of this work and the author's obvious love for the original, I suspect it will please fans of the Beowulf poem. I can however, recommend The Saga of Beowulf to anyone who enjoys heroic fantasy. It's one of the finest heroic fantasy tales I've ever read, and I hope it reaches the wide audience it certainly deserves.
As for me, I think I'm going to give the original Beowulf poem a shot. Hopefully it will be easier to handle now that I know the story and love the characters.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great entertainment at a great price, January 19, 2009
It would be hard to find anyone in the English speaking world who has never heard of Beowulf. Most could tell you he was the hero of "some old poem" who killed "that monster, Grendel." Some younger people might have seen the comic book-like movie flaunting its digitalized special effects, but most of the population will have had to have read parts of it in school, in translation.
Not many will remember why they had to read it in school, but there's a good reason: it's the first identifiable work of literature written in English. The problem is it must be read in translation (unless one is a graduate student in English, perhaps) because it was the language spoken when part of the Germanic languages split off and became modern English. We call that founding language Anglo-Saxon, or Old English. Supposedly, the verses in which the Beowulf story is told constitute very powerful poetry, but very few are able to appreciate it today. It takes work to pick out a single understandable word in two or three lines of verse, and a semester or two of college-level study to get comfortable with.
The story itself, of the hero Beowulf saving a neighboring tribe of Danes from the horrible Grendel, and later from his equally horrible mother, ultimately becoming king of his own tribe, the Geats, and dying while saving them from a ferocious fire dragon, is a dramatic one. But in addition to the language problem, the tale is made even harder to appreciate by virtue of apparently being written down by two different people hundreds of years after Beowulf lived, by the fragments of the manuscript which have disappeared, and by its being compressed possibly for purposes of recitation.
All this is by way of saying that there is a terrific story here, but how to make it accessible to today's typical readers? Author R. Scot Johns has the answer: spend ten years researching the poem and the historical documents of the era, and weave it all into a novel, a novel of 630 pages. The result of this impressive scholarship is a labor of love: an astoundingly readable, satisfyingly meaty historical tale of fierce battles, of intricate clan ties and loyalty, of Norse folklore, and of characters who develop over time to stand as distinct personalities that were only dimly glimpsed in the ancient version.
As to how Mr. Johns managed all this, he has a website (fantasycastlebooks) with extensive and interesting author's notes laying out the documents and the manner of stitching them into one continuous narrative. The book itself has glossaries of names and places, and a map of ancient Scandanavia, but these are helpful only when needed and do not intrude on the continuity of the story. There are no footnotes, for example.
One might reasonably ask, "What possible prose style would suit ancient poetry rendered into a modern novel?" Mr. John's solution seems to be rather a hybrid: in places he uses what feels like Old Norse hyperbole, and in others a more sensitively observed, human-scaled style. Since the original story featured heroic deeds of strong, brave men with large swords, chain mail, and horns on their helmets fighting monsters with mythic abilities, exaggeration is only fitting, and faithful to the original. In other places, when warranted, the style eases into a more comfortable, conventional narrative, with few flights of bellicose elaboration. It retains the feel of an ancient story, yet can be enjoyed comfortably and without rescanning the lines.
As a reviewer of books, I'm inclined to want to march right through a text. At the same time, I found myself enjoying the story and wishing to slow down and immerse myself in it. Torn between these two desires, I noted that Grendel and his mother had been dealt with by the halfway point. What, I asked myself, could possibly fill the rest of the pages?
To my surprise, I found I enjoyed the second half even more than the first, with accounts of battles with normal humans (well, ancient Swedes, anyway), an ill-advised raid into Frankish territory, sea voyages, Frankish politics and military maneuvers, the puzzle of Roman ruins, struggles over kingly succession and tribal politics, courtship, and more small doses of mythology: stone-eating trolls, fearsome dwarfs, and, overseeing all, the three Fates of Norse mythology, spinning out the threads of lives, measuring and cutting them when the time comes. It's all cleanly written and edited, a few errant apostrophes notwithstanding.
Mr. Johns' version of Beowulf is a terrific bargain at its current selling price. It should appeal to, and delight, those who like the original poem, those who enjoy the sword and sorcerer/dungeons and dragons type of yarn, lovers of historical fiction, and the many readers who are tired of the same old formulas and wish for something completely different.
(Al Past is the author of the popular Distant Cousin series and writes reviews for PODBRAM.)
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A 5-star book indeed!, December 22, 2008
Beowulf has the distinction of being one of the earliest pieces of fiction in the English language. Though Old English bears little resemblance to the English that is spoken today. The Saga of Beowulf by R. Scot Johns is a novelization of the saga. This book is a satisfying way to get into the story of Beowulf. Johns has taken the story and made it accessible for the average reader.
Beowulf is a hero in a time when clans and families of the north are constantly feuding, and even the gods are worn out. He is a Geat, but sails to Daneland to avenge the death of his father at the hands of the ogre Grendel. He is also sailing because he isn't welcome at home since he failed to protect his Queen, and the King's present wife is still in love with him.
In Daneland, Beowulf finds a land ravaged by Grendel for the last twelve years. There are few men left. In this hard time the weak don't last and the wolves are circling. Yet facing Grendel is only the beginning of Beowulf's saga. There is bravery and cowardice, honesty and treachery, all of it described with richness and power.
Johns has captured the feel of the saga in his work. The story is populated by characters who are complex and tormented by their fate. There is some of the fatalism of the Norse tradition, but the heroes at their best struggle against it to shine brightly, if briefly, against the dark. This book is worth a read because it is one of the defining works of our language and culture, and because it is a terrific story told with great skill.
Armchair Interviews agrees.
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